Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Q: What was your inspiration for Captive Trail?
A: Vickie McDonough, Darlene Franklin, and I are all clients of the same agent. He asked the three of us if we’d like to put together a book series set in Texas. When we began looking at a timeline of Texas history for ideas, the story of Cynthia Ann Parker jumped out at me. She is one of the most famous Indian captives of all time. I wanted to write a story about another girl who underwent the terror of capture and isolation from anyone she knew, but who had a happier outcome than Cynthia did.

Q: Have you always wanted to be a writer?

A: I suppose I have, although when I was in first grade, I thought I would like to run a store. Later I thought owning a hotel would be the best job on earth, and for a while I considered going into nursing. I don’t think I considered “writer” as a possibility for me at that time.

Q: How do you deal with writer’s block?

A: I don’t encounter it very often. Occasionally I’ll get “stuck” writing a particular scene. When that happens, I either push through it and leave it to be revised later, or skip right over it and go to the next part. Later, I think it over and decide whether I really need that scene. If I do, what is its purpose? Usually, focusing on the job that scene needs to do helps me write it.

Q: How long does it take you to complete a novel? How many drafts do you go through?

A: I would say that I go through at least six drafts, and the actual writing takes me anywhere from a month to six months.

Q: Do you plot out your story ahead of time, or do you think it up as you go?
A: I plot it out beforehand. It helps me stay on track as I’m writing.

Thanks for visiting with us today, Susan!

About Captive Trail:

Taabe Waipu has run away from her Comanche village and is fleeing south in Texas on a horse she stole from a dowry left outside her family’s teepee. The horse has an accident and she is left on foot, injured and exhausted. She staggers onto a road near Fort Chadbourne and collapses.

On one of the first runs through Texas, Butterfield Overland Mail Company driver Ned Bright carries two Ursuline nuns returning to their mission station. They come across a woman who is nearly dead from exposure and dehydration and take her to the mission.

With some detective work, Ned discovers Taabe Waipu’s identity. He plans to unite her with her family, but the Comanche have other ideas, and the two end up defending the mission station. Through Taabe and Ned we learn the true meaning of healing and restoration amid seemingly powerless situations.

Captive Trail is second in a six-book series, Texas Trails. You can read more about it at: http://www.texastrailsfiction.com/. Award-winning authors Vickie McDonough and Darlene Franklin also contribute to this series—we have two books each. And each book can be read on its own.

About The Lady’s Maid:
The Lady’s Maid is first in my new Prairie Dreams historical romance series. Elise Finster accompanies her young British mistress, Lady Anne Stone, on a voyage to America in 1855. Lady Anne’s father has died, and her Uncle David is the new Earl of Stoneford—if he steps forward and claims the title. But David disappeared into the American West when Anne was a baby. Now it’s up to her and Elise to find him. They join a wagon train in Independence, Missouri, not realizing they’re leading a killer straight to David.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Susan Page Davis is an award-winning author with thirty-seven published novels and novellas. A Maine native, she has also lived in Oregon and recently moved to western Kentucky.

Susan has six children and eight grandchildren and loves to spend time with them. She loves animals, puzzles, reading, and genealogy. In January, 2011, she was named Favorite Author of the Year among readers of Heartsong Presents books. She’s a member of Women Writing the West and American Christian Fiction Writers and a past winner of the Carol Award (ACFW’s Book of the Year) and the Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award.

WIN THE BOOKS
Susan is so awesome, she's giving away a copy of each of the books featured in this post! If you’d like to be entered to win one, just leave a comment on this blog. I’ll pick a winner at random on Monday, October 3rd. Please leave an email address so I can contact you if you're the winner. (To prevent spammers from trolling for your email, please use this format with the brackets--you [at] yourmail [dot] com--or something similar.) Good luck!

Thanks, everyone. It's great to see some old friends here and meet some new folks. Isn't Jen's blog absolute fun? Louise, I know what you mean. I brought home several books from the ACFW conference this weekend, but had to restrain myself from buying more! I'm glad we can give a couple away here.